“I love models, just everything about them,” Carrie Bradshaw famously declared. It’s a sentiment the industry has shared for decades. Before a garment becomes iconic, it needs a body, a face, a story; enter the model: fashion’s most enduring muse. But what happens when fashion stops feeling aspirational and starts feeling routine? Oscillating between couture and basic blue jeans, the personal style of models occupies a curious in-between space.
The enigma surrounding models may have faded in the age of social media. Through vlogs, casting diaries, and behind-the-scenes glimpses, we know more about their lives than ever before. Which is what led me to a different question: after the runway lights dim, the backstage empties, and the cameras are switched off, what are the clothes models actually return to? The ones chosen not by casting directors, stylists, or brand briefs, but by themselves? What does constant proximity to luxury and fashion do to a person’s relationship with clothes? So I posed the question to three models navigating fashion’s biggest stages today.
GAURI SHARMA
Indian model Gauri Sharma belongs to a rising cohort of South Asian talent reshaping international fashion. Based in Paris and represented across the major fashion capitals, Sharma has walked for labels including Giorgio Armani, Erdem, Ahluwalia, Zimmermann and Akris steadily establishing herself on the global runway circuit. For Sharma, luxury is about intention. “Luxury isn’t about the new; it’s about how a piece evolves with you.” she says. While her work wardrobe is rooted in comfort and versatility, her personal style is more feminine and expressive. Her most-worn pieces are a pair of Vivienne Westwood earrings that have become a signature. “There’s something chic about a piece that has been truly lived in.” The industry’s fantasy is built on constant newness. Her wardrobe is built on what endures.
Photograph: Instagram // @goriiisharma
“I’ve learned that trying everything isn’t nearly as rewarding as finding what actually works for me.” Her most cherished luxury item is a LOEWE bag gifted to her after her debut runway show for Jonathan Anderson in Paris. “It’s not just a bag for me; it’s a reminder of where it all started,” she reflects.
NAKUL BHARADWAJ
Hailing from Delhi and now represented by leading agencies across New York, Paris, Milan, and London, Nakul Bhardwaj made history in 2024 as the first Indian male model to walk for Versace at Milan Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2025 show. Among the pieces he values most is his father’s NBA Lakers jacket, a staple that has accompanied him through many important moments in life. “It’s familiar, it fits right, and it carries a kind of history that newer pieces just don’t have yet,” he says.
That appreciation for longevity wasn’t always instinctive. In 2017, Bharadwaj became fixated on a pair of Yves Saint Laurent Chelsea boots, seeing them as the ultimate object of desire. But years spent working in fashion gradually shifted his perspective. “I stopped caring so much about the brand name and started appreciating the craftsmanship, the design, and the story a piece carries,” he says.
Photograph: Instagram // @nakulbhardwaj.01
“Working in fashion has fundamentally shifted my perspective on acquisition — I now see it as a form of freedom,” he notes. Whether it’s indulging in a childhood pleasure like a Hot Wheels car or gifting his mother a piece of land, luxury for him today is the ability to turn dreams into reality.
ANUGRAHA NATARAJAN
“Fashion runs on its own clock, and it’s never yours,” Anugraha Natarajan says, describing a profession built on urgency, movement and perpetual readiness. Yet existing within that rhythm has led the Chennai – born model, not towards overconsumption, but clarity. “Everything I buy now is thrifted or upcycled, strictly natural fabrics — cotton, silk, linen, leather. I used to aspire to a big wardrobe. I outgrew that pretty fast.”
Instead, the pieces Natarajan values the most are those layered with memory: her vintage Giuseppe Zanotti boots, purchased for £70 on London’s Portobello Road and worn to her first Burberry casting the very next day, and her mother’s sarees, inherited across generations. “One is a story that’s mine. The other is a story bigger than me,” she says.
The fantasy of fashion may be built on constant newness, but the people closest to it seem to cherish the opposite. In the end, it’s the stories that endure much more than labels, proving that beyond the runway, value is found not in possession, but in memory, milestones and meaning.
Photograph: Instagram // @anugrahanatarajan
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